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HQ Creative makes an office play in Santa Monica
The local developer intends a major redesign of the ivy-covered property
HQ Creative Office is making a play for the beach.
The local developer paid $13.3 million, or $864 per square foot, to acquire the ivy-covered building at 1522 Second Street in Downtown Santa Monica.
Santa Monica-based Hertz Investment Group was the seller of the roughly 15,300-square-foot property. The private equity firm paid $9 million for the property in August 2008, according to Real Capital Analytics.
Bob Safai, Matt Case and Brad Schlaak of Madison Partners brokered the sale. Safai, along with Joe King, will handle leasing for HQ.
The three-story building is located on the corner of Broadway and Second Street, one block from the beach. It was delivered vacant upon closing.
Century City-based HQ Creative, a subsidiary of HQ Group, plans on re-designing and renovating the 23-year-old property to build upscale offices.
Under the lead of Australian entrepreneur Robert Herscu, HQ Creative completed massive renovations at an office campus at 720 N. Cahuenga Boulevard in the Hollywood Media District. After building a yoga studio, screening room and mezzanines on-site, Herscu leased the 33,200-square-foot property to adult web-streaming site Jasmin.com. Rates were believed to be a record for the area, asking around $4.25 per square foot per month.
The firm, which also bills itself as an adaptive reuse developer, has delved into the co-living trend. It transformed a former motel at 5630 Sawtelle Boulevard in Culver City into a 35-unit creative living space. It offers micro rooms, of about 350 square feet.